The subject invention is directed to a transportable medical shower for the elderly, handicap patients, burn patients, patients with bed sores, quadriplegics, and more particularly, any person who cannot bathe themselves or find it difficult to use a standard shower.
A need exists for a means of giving physically impaired people, such as the elderly, handicap patients, burn patients, patients with bed sores, quadriplegics, etc., the freedom and dignity to effectively administer their own oral hygiene. These persons are greatly dependent upon assistance of physically capable people such as nurses and therapists to administer their daily hygiene needs. Current technology, such as shower and bathtub seats and handheld shower spray systems, somewhat improve the bathing and showering systems, but users often still need assistance with getting in and out of the facility and assistance with the hygiene process itself. Such assistance is often frustrating and embarrassing to the individual. Many physically impaired people prefer some measure of independence in their daily routines, but certain things are not doable with the current technology found in home bathing and showering systems. Many quality of life improving products for bathing and showering are designed for institutions such as hospitals and nursing homes. Such buildings were built with special construction features that allow for the installation of this equipment. Seldom is a home or other such residence constructed to accept these special units. Therefore, the development of such an appliance should also consider the likely building construction limitations found in a typical home. These would include, but are not limited to level wood and concrete floors, water supply and drainage access, and standard doorway widths.
Additionally, such an appliance would need to have other considerations, which enhance the function and versatility of the unit. These would include but are not limited to features such as height adjustable shower chair designed to roll in and out of the unit without obstruction, a solution dispensing system to disperse medicinal and cleansing solutions into the unit""s occupant, and user friendly controls for the entire system. The invention summarized and described below is the first invention of its kind to meet these needs.
Briefly summarized, the present invention in one broad aspect is a therapeutic shower enclosure unit mounted on wheels and sized to fit through the standard door opening of most rooms found in a home. The therapeutic shower requires no building modifications and does not require a professional installer to set-up or install the unit. Plumbing and electrical connections of the unit require no special tools. The therapeutic shower is designed for physically impaired people such as the elderly, handicapped and medical patients who seek assistance-free personal hygiene.
The therapeutic shower is designed for a person to sit inside the unit""s enclosure surrounded by multiple water jets that provide a showering spray of either water or water combined with medicinal or cleansing solutions to every part of the body except the face and head. The water jets are arranged and directed in a body surrounding pattern and spaced such that the spray patterns of the jets effectively spray the entire body of the user without the need for the user to move around within the enclosure.
The top of the therapeutic shower is designed so that the user""s head is above the unit and out of the spray zone. The top has a large opening at the entrance to the enclosure. This opening is to provide unobstructed ingress and egress to the therapeutic shower by the use of specially designed wheeled shower chair. This height adjustable chair is designed to accommodate a person of any size. The shower chair has multiple non-swivel wheels. The shower basin has a ramp attachment to facilitate rolling the chair in and out of the shower enclosure. A hinged door is attached to the side of the enclosure to close off the entrance during use; thus retaining any over-spray caused by the shower jets.
The supply of water can be achieved by various combinations of hose connections. For sink applications with a single xe2x80x9cgoose-neckxe2x80x9d faucet, a universal adapter is used to make a non-permanent connection to the gooseneck. For dual faucet connections, such as the faucets supplying water to a clothes washer, a two hose system is used to supply water to the unit. Permanent hard connections are also an option.
The drain system utilizes a collection basin to accumulate the used water by means of a sloped floor surface. The accumulated water is funneled through a drain and into the inlet of a water pump. The water pump evacuates the used water and pumps the water through a discharge hose and into a sink drain or other drain system.
The application of the present invention therefore provides a therapeutic shower that can be used in buildings where there is hot and cold- water availability, such as a bathroom, kitchen or laundry area. The application of the present invention also provides that the unit can be installed without the use of a professional installer or special tools and that the therapeutic shower is specifically designed to be transportable and to fit through any standard door openings of most homes or similar structure.